Trusting Liam(58)

Kennedy just stood there staring at the door with wide eyes, not saying anything. I looked over to Kira, and she shrugged.

“I didn’t see him,” she replied, and walked up toward her sister. “Is it—” She cut off abruptly and looked up at me for a few seconds, then turned her body so she was facing away. That didn’t stop me from hearing her when she asked, “Is it one of Juarezes?”

“Who the fuck is Juarez? Someone tell me what’s going on,” I demanded. I had to know if I needed to go outside and beat up the guy who was asking for Kennedy, or call the cops.

“No, it isn’t,” Kennedy replied to her sister, but her eyes stayed locked on me—nothing but confusion and pain in them. “Kira, it . . . it’s Rhys.”

Kira looked at Kennedy with a confused expression, then her head jerked back and she turned quickly to look at the door and I saw the sudden surprise and confusion in her eyes. “Uh . . .”

“For fuck’s sake, will one of you tell me what’s happening. Is this guy dangerous? Do you need me to call the police?”

“I don’t think he’s dangerous,” Kira said, her voice sounding a little unsure. “But maybe you shouldn’t open the door for him again.”

As soon as Kira took a step toward the door, I stopped her and turned to get it myself. I still had no idea who Rhys was, or why he was here, but I sure as hell wasn’t letting the girls talk to him until I knew.

Unlocking and opening the door, I eyed the guy still standing there.

Before I could say a word, he asked, “Do you mind if I see my wife now?”





13



October 24

Liam

WHATEVER QUESTION I had for Rhys quickly escaped me, and I stood there staring at him as his question played over and over in my head. The guy was asking to see his wife . . . to see Kennedy.

I took a step away from the door and turned to look at the girls standing there with a mix of emotions on their faces. Kennedy looked like she was worried and hurt, and Kira’s face was full of confusion and anger.

“Kennedy?” I asked softly, and her head snapped around to look at me before going back to Rhys, who was standing in the doorway.

“Well, I can say that I’ve never been more surprised by anything in my life,” Kira sneered. “Who’d’ve thought that you would show up after four years? And what is this, the second time I’ve seen you . . . ever?”

“Kira, stop,” Kennedy whispered, and even though there was no force behind her words, Kira obeyed. “You’re here. How? How did you know I was here?”

Rhys started to say something, but I spoke over him. “So he wasn’t lying? You’re his—you’re married to him?”

The sharp tone of my words had Kennedy looking at me again, her face apologizing when her words couldn’t do the same. “Liam,” she pleaded, and reached for me when I stalked past her toward her room, but I didn’t stop or respond.

As soon as I hit her room, I was searching for my phone and keys. Just as I was turning to leave, she was beside me, tears streaming down her face.

“Please, you don’t understand.”

“I don’t understand? You’re fucking married, Kennedy! What isn’t there to understand?” I laughed harshly and ran a hand roughly through my hair. “So he’s why you continued to push me back? He’s your past? He’s why you’re fucking terrified of letting yourself get too close to me?”

“Liam, please!”

“No. No, I fucking get it. Message received. What I don’t get is why you waited this long to tell me that you have a goddamn husband!”

“He’s my ex-husband,” she said weakly. It sounded more like a question than a statement.

“Ex?” A hard laugh sounded in my throat, and I nodded past her. “Does he know that? Better yet, do you?”

October 24

Kennedy

LIAM STORMED PAST me, but I didn’t try to stop him. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to say at all now that Rhys was here. Like Kira had said, it’d been four years since any of us had seen him.

Minutes after I heard the front door shut, I turned at the sound of someone walking toward me, and found Rhys there.

A million memories hit me. Our whirlwind romance. Eloping after knowing each other for only two weeks. Being devastatingly in love with him, and then being simply devastated when he left me. I’d never loved anyone before or after him. Dated guys, sure, but no one had been like Rhys until Liam came back into my life. What we’d had was something you only ever see in fairy tales. Rhys had been my entire world, and I’d thought I was his. Obviously I had been wrong.